The Florida Information
Resource Network (FIRN) was established by the Florida Legislature and the
Florida Department of Education to provide network communications for schools
and educators. The FIRN network provides an email system, several educational
support services for classroom use, and access to the World Wide Web. Public
educators in Florida can obtain free access to FIRN and email through local
or toll-free dial-up modem numbers.

Contacting FIRN (www.firn.edu)

To find out the modem
number for your area, visit the FIRN web site, http://www.firn.edu, or call
the FIRN Helpdesk at 800-749-FIRN (800-749-3476) or 850-487-8851 (local).
The FIRN Helpdesk is available to assist with PPP, network, phone line, modem,
or other technical problems during these hours:

FIRN
Helpdesk contact numbers:

Services offered by FIRN

FIRN offers free Internet access, free email accounts, and web page hosting.
In order to use the services, you must first register for a FIRN Profile Identifier
account. The Profile Identifier account number and password allow you to dial
into FIRN to access the Internet and to send and receive email. This process
is explained in the section, How to register for a FIRN profile.

Email

FIRN offers a POPmail account for those who are registered. A FIRN POPmail
account requires you to connect to a FIRN dial-up number. (You can receive
your FIRN POPmail if you are using a non-FIRN connection such as AOL, but
you will not be able to send mail.) You will also need a POPmail client package
on your computer, such as Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later, Internet Explorer
4.0 or later, OutLook Express, Eudora Pro, or Eudora Light. You will receive
your own email address, typically the first ten characters of your last name
followed by an underscore and the first character of your first name. For
example, the FIRN POPmail account for John Williams is williams_j@firn.edu.
FIRN's Quickview is a web interface that allows you to read, delete, or forward
the new mail that is waiting in your POPmail account. Attachments can be viewed
or downloaded, and new messages can be sent, including attachments. Unless
the delete option is chosen for a message, the original message is left on
the POPMail server and can be accessed from a POPmail client at a later date.
After using Quickview, be sure to click on the logout button at the top of
the page to keep others from accessing your mail. You can access Quickview
at http://raven.firn.edu/.

How to register for a FIRN profile

You must first register for a FIRN Profile account in order to connect to
FIRN through a modem. You may also register for an email account at the same
time. The FIRN Profile account number and password allow you to dial into
FIRN and access the Internet using a browser. Your Profile Identifier account
number and your dial-up Network Username will be the same number. The username
is numeric and starts with the year you registered. For example, 02345678
would indicate that the person registered in 2002.
Access to the FIRN dial-in facility and other services is based upon a person's
affiliation with education. Each applicant's educational affiliation is automatically
verified by this system. When registering for a FIRN profile, you will be
requested to enter your full name as it appears on your records in the personnel
office of your employing institution. This will speed up the verification
and activation of your profile.
Registration for FIRN is through their website, http://register.firn.edu.
If needed, you may dial-up FIRN using a temporary username and password, and
then go to the FIRN website, in order to register. The following directions
are for accessing the website through your local FIRN dial-up number for registration
purposes:
1. Use your computer and modem to dial your local FIRN dial-up number which
can be found at http://www.firn.edu/connectivity/remote/dialup.html. (See
Chapters 3 and 4 for instructions on setting up your computer and modem.)
2. After receiving the Connect message, press Return or Enter.
3. Enter netreg for the username (it must be lowercase) and press Return
or Enter.
4. Enter firn for the password (it must be lowercase) and press Return
or Enter. Since the password is secured, the letters will not be displayed
and the cursor will not move as you type.
5. Once you have established a dial-up connection, start your web browser.
Then go to http://register.firn.edu and follow the on-screen instructions.
Note: Your email account will be the principle means by which FIRN will communicate
with you. At the time you are registering, if you do not already have an email
account with an Internet service, the registration system will automatically
create a FIRN email account for you. FIRN profiles will not be activated without
a valid email address.

Account Status

After the user information is successfully verified, a FIRN profile will
be created and will have either an active or trial status.

Active
Your account will be considered active at the time of registration if you
requested a FIRN POPmail account during the registration process. You may
begin using the FIRN dial-up and FIRN email immediately.

Trial
If you provided an existing FIRN POPmail account OR an email address other
than FIRN at the time of registration, the email address you provided must
be verified. An email message will be sent to the email address you entered.
You will have 5 days to respond to it. Failure to respond within the 5 days
will result in your access to FIRN (which includes the FIRN dial-ups for Internet
access and, if applicable, FIRN POPmail) being disabled. You will have to
contact the FIRN Helpdesk (1-800-749-3476) or helpdesk@firn.edu for assistance.

How to Maintain an Active FIRN Profile
Users must change their FIRN profile password at least once every 90 days.
Failure to change this password will cause all your FIRN services to be disabled.
You will then need to contact the FIRN Helpdesk to have your services reactivated.
FIRN profiles not reactivated within 60 days after the password expires will
be deleted.

FIRN registration reference sheet

The following form contains the information needed to register for a FIRN
profile account. Obtain and record the information before you go to http://register.firn.edu
to start the registration process.
Name (payroll name) _____________________________________

School name ___________________________________________

School street address ____________________________________

City, FL Zip_____________________________________________

Your school phone number ________________________________

Supervisors name ______________________________________

Supervisors phone number _______________________________

Personal Identification Code (PIC): __________________________
(This will be your password. Make it 6-10 characters in length. Select something
you will remember. Make sure to write it down.)

As you register, fill in the spaces below with the information from the
system.

FIRN Profile Identifier (8-digit number): _____________________
FIRN assigns this number. It will be displayed on the screen; write it down.
It is always an 8-digit number beginning with the year that you registered.
This is what you enter when prompted for username when you dial-in and connect
to FIRN.

FIRN Profile password: ___________________________________
The FIRN system automatically uses your PIC code for the password. It is displayed
on the screen and should be 6-10 characters long.

Alternate password: ______________________________________
You can record an alternate password so that you can switch back and forth
between them when you change passwords at regular intervals. You must change
your password at least once every 90 days.

FIRN Internet email username: _____________________________
If you are applying for a FIRN email, FIRN will assign this name. it will
be displayed on the screen; write it down.

Alternate password: ______________________________________
You can record an alternate password so that you can switch back and forth
between them when you change passwords at regular intervals. You must change
your password at least once every 90 days.

FIRNTECs

Technical
support personnel (FIRNTECs) are available for group Internet training. These
numbers are voice telephone numbers.